Results tagged “Sega”

Gaming companies these days are always taking a gamble when releasing a game destined never to go too far beyond niche status, especially if it's on consoles; especially if it's a retail game. A company like Sega may make some bizarre decisions, but you have to applaud them for taking a chance on a game like Valkyria Chronicles, even if you don't care for the game or genre. It was a massive gamble, and it paid off. Well, mostly.

In trying to appeal to a younger audience and put the franchise in the hands of another demographic -- the same that purchased the Phantasy Star Portable titles in droves -- Sega decided to put Valkyria Chronicles 2 (now available at fine retailers everywhere!) on PSP instead of PS3. Sure, it made plenty of fans upset, but it's not like most of them have good business sense anyway. Sega's move was actually logical ostensibly; it would cannibalize sales of the game outside of Japan since the PSP is mostly dead outside of that territory, but if it even sold half of what P*P did, they could safely disregard that audience. Turns out it didn't pay off quite as well as they thought, but it didn't sell badly.

We knew that a new Valkyria Chronicles title was on its way the minute someone discovered that Sega registered the URL "valkyria3.jp." In the middle of last week, Sega began teasing the game themselves. There's no name on the site itself, but it's pretty obvious it's what they're teasing given the clues on the site. The most interesting of those clues is the "Code 1935" part, which is the same year the first game took place. What exactly is this game going to be? Let's speculate, because speculation posts are fun!

(And I hope they're as fun to read too, because that's what matters.)

What system does Sega's 8 ball say this will land on?

PS3? PSP? PS3 and 360? Wii? Genesis? Who knows. It's certainly the most pressing question. The main site goes up on the same day TGS begins, so you can rule 3DS out since it will have next to no presence there. The most likely guess is PS3, given the original game sold OK in Japan and America on that system (I have no idea how it sold in Europe). You'd think it would be on 360 too, but this is Sega we're talking about. Don't be surprised if it's another PSP affair, though.


So what's the genre?

Strategy/RPG, of course. Or is it?

Also a pressing question! It could be a PC MMO for all we know. Not that I think that will happen. It depends on what fans liked about the first two games. The second game has multiplayer, which I suppose was intended to be a selling point good enough to make sales as high as P*P. Since it didn't, a multiplayer-focused title is unlikely. Not to say it won't have some form of multiplayer, of course.

The first Valkyria Chronicles on PS3. Will the series go HD again? Or...

Wait, when is it taking place?

The teaser site's name implies that this game takes place at the same time as the first game: EC 1935. We'll see what this actually means about a week from Thursday -- or earlier, since it might be in Famitsu that week. It's possible that it could be a Gundam 08th MS Team-type affair, where it takes place at the same time as the original but told from a different perspective. That could be great actually. Or it could be there just to throw everyone off. You never know.

It will only be a few weeks before we have either cheering or horrifying meltdowns across the internet, depending on which system it ends up on. Me? I'll look forward to it regardless of what system it'll end up on. Unless it's really a PC MMO. There's the chance that all of this could be wrong and it could just be a port of the first game for PSP; then fans would know the feeling of experiencing hilarity and sadness concurrently.

Quick answer: it's utterly fantastic. Download it immediately if it's available in your territory.

Anyone who's a little tired of the usual third-person shooter doldrums might be looking forward to Vanquish, Platinum Games and Shinji Mikami's next title. The result, at least thus far, is pretty much what you would expect from a team that's clearly done their homework. It's a game whose style represents the best of what goes into western-developed cover system-laden TPSs and Japanese action games, culminating in something that's completely wild and fantastic.

There isn't much to the demo. It runs through the third part of the first mission, providing a taste of battling with normal enemies -- some of which are using assorted machinery and turrets -- one bigger enemy, and a boss. It's also pretty tough, but not hard enough to be too overbearing. It's certainly not as esoteric as games like God Hand and P.N. 03 were initially, and it doesn't seem as niche audience-aimed as those either, based purely on its aesthetics. Finishing the demo should take you no more than 20 minutes.

Your protagonist, Sam Gideon, has a lot of techniques. Thankfully there's a training section that will help you become acclimated to the controls; and more importantly, it's separate from the demo level. It's one of the most interactive, well-paced training modes I've played in a while, and it makes the training sessions in a lot of other games look amateurish in comparison. It's also packed with plenty of hilariously corny dialogue. Having a lot of techniques at your disposal means you'll have plenty of options to dispatch enemies. If you like the game, you'll likely replay it plenty of times to see how many different ways you can approach it.

There are plenty of weapons at your disposal, too. Four, in fact: heavy machine gun, assault rifle, shotgun, and sniper rifle, the last of which can be located in the first stage.  (There are five if you want to include the rocket launcher and disc launcher, but you only get to play with those in a short training session.) The first two weapons there use rapid fire, so you'll likely run out of ammo on at least one of them. If you do, there are crates around that contain extra weapons, and it only takes picking up one to fully replenish your ammo. If you already have full ammo for that weapon, you'll enhance the weapon itself.

The "so bad it's good" dialogue seems to be a trademark of Mikami and his team. The storyline isn't even a tertiary concern in a game like this, but having dialogue and characters that parody other works that involve the tough guy attitude is swell.

Demos are in no way an indicator of what the entire game will contain, so I hope the final version of Vanquish will have as much variety as what was on display here. It releases in October. Look forward to it.

P.S. For a fun little Easter egg, press L2 or LB (depending on which system you have) while you're in cover mode.

The Shining series is one of the many, many franchises where most fans are displeased with Sega's treatment of it in the last decade or so. If they're even using the franchise at all. Of all companies, Sega probably has the most classic franchises in they're arsenal where fans have expressed, at the very least, dislike for how they were handled recently, and the Shining franchise happens to be one of them.

After four Shining games last generation that couldn't be more different than their earlier counterparts -- Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon for GBA excepted, though that's a remake of the first game. They may not have been the kind of games fans wanted, but I hear Shining Force Neo and Shining Force Exa are perfectly competent Diablo-esque hack 'n slashers. The less said about Shining Tears and Wind, the better. There's also their arcade entry, Shining Force Cross, which I still think resembles Kingdom Hearts a little too much. Not to mention the unlocalized DS SRPG Shining Force Feather, which is probably closest to what fans wanted. Shame about that "unlocalized" part.

And here's a brand new Shining game from Sega. And true to form, it sure as hell isn't what you Shining fans wanted! It's Shining Hearts for PSP, announced within Famitsu's pages earlier this week. A mere glance at the game is almost enough to think it's a follow-up to the much-revolted Shining Tears and Wind, considering it shares a somewhat similar visual style with them, and has the same character designer in Tony Taka. It also has a Keyblade in the title for some reason, which might be an homage to Cross. This game is a traditional RPG instead of an action/RPG. Oh, and ex-Squaresoft composer Hiroki Kikuta is composing the soundtrack (whose work I like), and feel free to check out one of his tunes on the currently sparse official website; seems he isn't completely lost to eroge after all! This game releases in Japan this winter.

Fun trivia: This is the first time Kikuta and Tony are collaborating since Sora no Iro, Mizu no Iro, Kikuta's first eroge title. Isn't that just fantastic?

It's tough to be optimistic for this game, and I'd recommend keeping your expectations low since parts of it seem a little too similar to Tears and Wind. Maybe Sega will work with Camelot again one day and revive the Shining franchise, but then I remembered we're talking about Sega here. Hopefully they surprise us.

Sega had a rather eventful week this past week in terms of news for their fans, other than just a new Vanquish trailer. A little of it may have been some of the worst kept secrets ever, but some of it was pretty surprising -- but hearing confirmation of the former was also neat. Let's sum it all up.

It looks like Yakuza 3 actually sold to Sega's expectations in America and Europe, because they confirmed this week that Yakuza 4 is being localized. It's possible that word spread around that Yakuza 3 was a great game despite Sega's suicide mission with it -- which included some unfortunate censorship and a horrendous release date. But there's a chance that the censorship ordeal might have given it some advertising and exposure. Anyone still miffed about that removed content will be relieved to hear that the fourth game will have the Hostess Clubs intact. Eurogamer's review notes that Yakuza 4's Hostess Clubs are integral to the storyline, so they really didn't have a choice.

The main difference between the upcoming title and the last one is that this time you have multiple characters to play through, along with the series' mainstay protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. The most dedicated fans of the series who have already played through it -- and probably figured that it didn't have a chance of getting localized -- have said the story itself is much better than the third game's. If you're a fan of the series, you really don't need me to tell you to look forward to it. It will release in spring 2011 (hopefully not alongside a bunch of high profile games this time), but Sega noted that it will be present at E3 this week, so look forward to some info from that.

Though many of us have known about this for a while, Sega finally confirmed that they're bringing Dreamcast games to both Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network. The lineup will start with Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi this fall, and I hope to god they don't finish with those. Time will tell whether the ports are actually handled with care or just shamelessly handed to Backbone Entertainment to mangle port. Heck, we may even find out this week if it's available for play at E3.

And I sincerely hope they handle them well, because this has serious potential for success. Similarly, this also has serious potential for disaster. I haven't had a chance to play Sonic Adventure since its original Dreamcast release in 2000, but word around the 'net is that time hasn't been kind to it. Some fans, or perhaps former fans, said it was showing its age when Sonic Adventure DX released on Gamecube back in 2003. Also, the chance that Crazy Taxi will keep everything intact from the Dreamcast release is minimal if the PSP version from a few years back is any indication, which removed licensed music and redubbed the voices. Still, it's nice of them to attempt this, and hopefully it opens the floodgates to more games. Like Jet Grind Radio and Skies of Arcadia.

This last bit is a few weeks old, but some of you might have missed it: Sega is localizing Phantasy Star Portable 2 for a release sometime this fall. These days, you could probably say that just about any PSP game getting localized is a surprise given the sad state of it outside of Japan. Unlike the last game, PSP2 includes online play via infastructure, which hopefully will make the cut when it releases in America. It's unknown as to whether it will hit PSN as well, but given how the first game still isn't on there, it's not looking likely.

I realize I may come down hard on Sega at times, but it's merely the classic "I criticize because I love" trope at work. Despite how all of their operations worldwide can make some silly decisions far too often, they've been one of the better Japanese companies this generation. Their localization arms have also taken a lot of chances on niche properties as well, though I'm admittedly very bitter that they, and many other companies, passed on localizing 7th Dragon. So yeah, good luck guys.

About a week ago, more gameplay of Vanquish was shown on Gametrailers TV on Spike TV (which is now in other places), and it looks as good and over the top as you'd expect a game from Platinum Games and Shinji Mikami to be. It turns out both MadWorld and Bayonetta set a precedent for the tone their games would take from then on*. You'd think the internet would be mostly abuzz about the gameplay, but no, there are people whining about some parts of it. And almost all of their complaints are completely silly.

When the game was unveiled, people lambasted it for being yet another shooter. I was sure Mikami wasn't going to make something derivative of anything we've seen way too much of this generation, and the new gameplay proves this to be true. Though I'm sure it wasn't going to be something as utterly zany as P.N. 03. I'm glad they got that out of the way quickly.

But it doesn't end there! Now there are complaints about the questionable writing, voice acting, and incredibly cheesy tone in the cut scenes shown in the trailer. It's an unfortunate confirmation that some people really don't know tongue-in-cheek when they see it. Of course, anyone who's seen what the creator has been responsible for previously, they'd know what to expect immediately -- see Resident Evil 4 and God Hand for more recent examples. That would also mean quite a few of said people haven't played those last two games (especially God Hand, which tanked), and you really should. P.N. 03 is an acquired taste.

The cut scenes themselves fit right in with the over-the-top content of the game itself. It's probably exactly what you'd expect what a futuristic faux-America would appear to be to someone who's not American. Fuse that with the crazy personality that Mikami and his team can inject, and we've got a party. The gameplay itself looks like a much-faster paced Gears of War, which itself borrowed the over-the-shoulder shooter elements from...Resident Evil 4. My, we've come full circle!

This is the last game in Platinum Games and Sega's four game publishing project, but that's not to say it will be the last. Sega is apparently interested in doing a Bayonetta sequel, given that it sold well enough. Vanquish definitely has the potential to have just as impressive sales. Heck, it can probably sell more if Sega can market it effectively, and it's easier to resonate with than something with very Japanese-style humor like Bayonetta. The game is apparently supposed to release this fall, so hopefully it doesn't get lost in the shuffle. We should see plenty of gameplay next week.

*OK, Infinite Space definitely doesn't have the same tone, but that was outsourced.

Edit: Aaaand the video on our Youtube channel has been blocked by Viacom. Neat! You'll just have to watch it on Sega's website then.

Because it's not like Sega went out of their way to tell you!

Oh sure, you could always venture to Sega of America's website and see that they have news bits about both games being released. But the real question here is: would you have known that by not going there? That's because the promotion for these games has been frighteningly minimal. Though it's not quite as bad as how Ubi treated both No More Heroes titles on Wii, they still could have done more for games their parent company funded and that could find audiences outside of Japan.

Resonance of Fate, it seems, is an RPG that's actually more in the vein of their own Valkyria Chronicles than Final Fantasy XIII. And it seems that Sega is marketing it just as wonderfully as that game, if not less. Do you believe they only released one trailer for this game? And it's just a teaser trailer that was originally released in Japanese, but now with English text for the international release. And this teaser is also from E3 2009, back in early June of last year. Apparently someone at Sega thought this was good enough. I'm afraid the video posted on the official Japanese Youtube page (as in the End of Eternity page, the Japanese name) showcasing the well-acted English dub doesn't count. Kudos on the nice localization, though.

At the very least, Infinite Space has had some promotion in the form of numerous anime shorts. Unfortunately, the dubbing in them is a far cry from what you'll find in the RoF clip above. It's also prevalent in the trailer as well, though I hear the game itself doesn't have nearly as much voice acting, in case you were worrying. This game also released last week, a mere two days after Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver. Most of the promotion seems to be done by fan sites and blogs.

Apparently allocations for both games has been spartan as well, with people reporting that a lot of stores still don't have the game in a week later. They seem to be going for the "niche appeal, therefore niche marketing, therefore niche distribution" line of thinking, and while that's OK, I feel they could aspire for a bigger market. It's not like Sega is a small company, after all. I'm sure they were too busy not marketing Yakuza 3 in the process, which in a few cases actually received more marketing. Sometimes not for the better.

Despite being released only a week after FFXIII and two days before the new* Pokemon, I still think Sega could have found an audience for both Resonance of Fate and Infinite Space. They certainly wouldn't have sold as much as the two aforementioned games (that's crazy talk), but they could have had some appeal to a lot of RPG fans who are starving for a good console RPG this gen or just want something that will occupy them after their finished with the bigger titles. Especially in RoF given how there have been so few good console RPGs this generation. Hopefully they can rely on word of mouth now. If they can find a copy.

*"New" as in "remakes," of course.

P.S. I don't intend to make this PSA thing a habit, in case you were wondering. That would get pretty annoying. It already is, actually!

Details are finally beginning to trickle out about Vanquish, a new third-person shooter from Platinum Games, and the fourth and final game within Platinum Games and Sega's publishing contract. It was originally unveiled on Gametrailers TV about a month back in the now-infamous CG teaser form, complete with ominous hints as to precisely what kind of game it actually was, and what factions it involved. That teaser showed a presidential figure that a lot of gamers said resembled Hilary Clinton (which I wouldn't be surprised was intentional), and displayed a soldier fending off a mysterious alien force. Or are they aliens?

Oh, and it didn't tell anyone what console(s) the game was heading for. Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 were the obvious initial guesses, but some also suggested that it could be a Wii title; or even a PSP title. CG teasers can be made for anything - though that teaser was much to elaborate for a DS title -- so all of the guesses were logical.

But that element of surprise is gone, as this week's Famitsu magazine - and now Platinum Games' website - revealed that the game is headed for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and due for release in winter 2010. It's no surprise to anyone to see those are the systems it's headed for, given how many shooters there are on the system; not to mention how well they sell on those systems. But what's surprising me concerning the formal announcement are comments from gamers who think it will inevitably be generic.

Those are pretty disappointing expectations from people I thought would know better. The developer's pedigree thus far has been anything but generic. Platinum Games contains a lot of the staff that previously worked for Capcom's now-defunct Clover Studios, which gave us great games like Viewtiful Joe, Okami, and God Hand. I don't think a company that has, thus far, made games like MadWorld, Infinite Space, and Bayonetta will make something that's like every other third-person cover-based shooter out there nowadays.

There's also the fact that Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami is at the helm. He was also involved with the aforementioned God Hand, and given his pedigree he's bound to have some interesting ideas to make this stand out from the rest of the pack. On the other side of the spectrum in terms of initial perception, there are quite a few gamers who wouldn't be surprised to see this being a spiritual sequel to Mikami's cult classic: P.N.03.

And it very well could be, given some of the admittedly scant details being dropped. Apparently Mikami wants this game to have some sort or rhythm-based shooting system. And to hint at some potential zaniness, apparently the main character, Sam, has a low visor because he wants to smoke while he battles. The game itself is also much more fast-paced than your average shooter, according to some of the press that saw the demo event in Japan.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Playstation 3 is the lead console this time around. This should avert another porting disaster like Bayonetta.

I think Vanquish will be a good game to watch, like all of Platinum Games' titles thus far. And maybe this one will actually sell pretty well! Let's just hope Sega doesn't send this one out at a bad time like Infinite Space will inevitably be when it releases later this Month. Keep your eye on this one.

For as great of a game as it was, and as saddening as it was, it probably wasn't a surprise for fighting game fans to see that Virtua Fighter 5 didn't take of as well as Sega intended when it released on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 back in 2007. The PS3 version, though, sold around 500,000 copies worldwide, and it might have been enough for the game to make its budget back. Those sales were pretty OK for a game released on a console in its infancy, and for a fighting game with no online play. What probably hurt Sega more is the enhanced version of the game they made Xbox 360, which bombed pretty hard despite having more and enhanced gameplay modes and online. But there's a good excuse: the 360 was hardly known as a fighting game console back then (can you believe how far it's come in two years?), so fighting game fans hadn't gravitated towards the console just yet.

Oh, and releasing it in October, right when everyone else is releasing their big games, wasn't a good idea either. But hey, this is the same company that released Valkyria Chronicles in the middle of November, and is releasing Yakuza 3 and Resonance of Fate, two of their most important upcoming games, within one of the biggest months for gaming this year. Who knows when Sega will actually learn that this is not a good idea.

But the Virtua Fighter franchise has since lived on in Japan with Virtua Fighter 5: R, which according to fans is a healthy upgrade to the original. Whatever problems VF5 vanilla had are remedied; it has quite a bit of rebalancing, a few more stages, better music, and a couple of characters (returning sumo Taka-Arashi from VF3 and new character Jean  -- pictured to the left and right of the pic above). Upon hearing this, and realizing that the fighting game market is far better now than it was then, fans clamored for a console release for it. But it was not to be, with Sega still reeling from the commercial failure that was the last game.

But there may be still hope that a new edition of VF5 can hit home consoles. At the AOU (Arcade Operators Union) expo last weekend, Sega announced Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown. As the name implies, this will be the final upgrade to VF5. Details of what it will have specifically are unknown, but you can bet that it will be a hell of a send-off for a game that's lasted so long and has been so popular in Japanese arcades.

But hey, wouldn't it be great if was ported to consoles too? Absolutely. But it's incredibly uncertain given Sega's prior precedent as far as VF5, though its existence could be the reason why Sega hasn't ported R to consoles. The fighting game market has almost worked its way back to being completely lucrative thanks to the likes of games like Street Fighter IV and Blazblue: Calamity Trigger -- and I'd be saying Tekken 6 here too if Namco Bandai hadn't fudged up the netcode initially. But who knows if Sega themselves realizes this.

Personally, I'd be pretty saddened if Final Showdown never released on consoles. Virtua Fighter has always been my favorite 3D fighting game. There's something inherently appealing (or masochistic) about a game that requires a lot of dedication to learn, since that means it dissuades scrub-friendly behavior and has a gameplay system that makes sure button-mashing isn't the key to victory. Many other fans feel the same way, though they show their affection for it much more vocally than I. So let's hope Sega pulls a Yakuza 3 here, however minimal its chances are.

(And by that I mean localizing it and not removing content.)

Publishers in the video game industry tend to make many mistakes, but in that particular way it's no different than a lot of other companies within their respective districts. But the mistakes some of them make, especially in the gaming industry, tend to be the most obvious ones; those made because of the management and marketing sectors being completely oblivious to occurrences they damn well shouldn't be oblivious to.

The Final Fantasy franchise is not the direct cause of anything implied above. If you read this blog regularly (or not), chances are you're aware that it's one of the biggest Japanese RPG franchises around. It would, therefore, logically follow that whenever a new game in the series releases, especially if its a mainline title, other companies that publish JRPGs should release them as far away as possible from whenever Square Enix decides to grace us with one. Yet every time one of them releases, there is almost always some company that's foolish enough to think they can go against it. And they always fail miserably, usually to the detriment of gamers as well as themselves.

One of the earliest, and most unfortunate, cases dates back to Final Fantasy VIII. Now, the game itself released at a fine time, in early-September of 1999. But it was a shame that Konami decided to release their main RPG at the time, Suikoden II, mere weeks after it. A game heralded as one of the best RPGs of all time was overshadowed by one of the biggest love-it-or-hate-it FF games in the series. I'm sure there are plenty of people who want a copy of the game now, or wish they owned two so the could sell one to pay off a Corvette.

And it's happened a lot more since then. Capcom decided to release Breath of Fire IV on the same day as Final Fantasy IX in November 2000, which caused people to miss a game that was somewhat of a foundation for a few ideas used in Final Fantasy X. The first Shadow Hearts title, whose tone feels very similar to that of the FF games, was overshadowed (pun not intended; no really!) by the then-impending release of FFX in December 2001. And finally, Final Fantasy XII also managed to claim a victim in Tales of the Abyss, which itself was sandwiched in between that and Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria.

With all of these unfortunate victims, companies have now learned to keep their RPGs away from a Final Fantasy game whenever it releases, right? Afraid not.

Sega seems to be a glutton for punishment these days. I've briefly discussed Yakuza 3's unfortunate release date before, but in case you missed it, it's March 9th. Right on the same day that Final Fantasy XIII releases. Yakuza 3 may not be an RPG, but it's going for some of the same audience that FFXIII is going for. And that's bad for Sega, but it's their fault.

But that's not all: Resonance of Fate, a new RPG developed by Tri-Ace and published by Sega, is going for much more of the FFXIII audience. I pointed out a week ago that Gamestop had the game listed as a March 9th release, which would have been utter silliness. I was also hoping that Amazon's May date was correct, as it would be far away from anything that could pose a threat. Gamespot noted that Sega of America has now officially announced a date for the game: March 16th. I don't know what's wrong with these people. Not only is it still competing with FFXIII, but it also has God of War 3 to contend with. Oh, and it's only a week after the aforementioned Yakuza 3. Have you ever seen a company so willing to compete with their own releases?

Admittedly, things are a bit different in Europe. Eurogamer reported earlier in the week that RoF is releasing there on March 26th. Much farther away from FFXIII, but that's honestly still too close.

The logical thought process for a company usually is (and should be) to keep it out of harms way if at all possible. Yet here we have plenty of them daring to brave the wolves' den with minimal chance of escaping unscathed. These are games that I'd like to see succeed, but Sega seems fully intent on sending them to death. Hopefully they're not cocky enough to think their name on the packaging will sell a game, which sales of MadWorld and Bayonetta should have proven.

I guess I've been on a Sega kick lately. Might as well keep it up for the time being, right? Sure.

Sega has an odd reputation of taking a bunch of already OK Japanese covers for Japanese games and changing them for American and European audiences. That's not entirely an indefensible practice, since some covers understandably have to be changed in order to appeal to specific audiences in the region they're trying to market them in. But with these comes a few cases where they went a little too far with making it something that would appeal to the casual observer. The result of them just looks like an act of laziness.

Like this one! Here we have the cover to Yakuza 3 for Playstation 3, which Sega is releasing in America and Europe right in the same week as Final Fantasy XIII comes out. The just want to make sure it's destined to be overlooked by people who would otherwise pick up the game but will undoubtedly be tied down by a 40-hour long RPG, one of the biggest this generation. Of course, then they'll complain about poor sales and refuse to localize Yakuza 4 because of it. It's a lose-lose situation for absolutely everyone involved.

It's a rather pessimistic look at the situation, sure, but it's not at all outside of the realm of possibility with how the situation will turn out. Oh, and just wait until more people find out that the game is in Japanese. Notice how the last two trailers carefully leave out that fact?

But uh,this is about the cover, isn't it? Yeah, it's pretty bad, though the background is pretty nice. A shame said background won't be were most people's eyes will go; they'll look at the awkwardly-placed face of Kazuma on the side first. I'm sure one of the main reasons for changing the cover was the cigarette in Kazuma's mouth, but I figured Sega had people on staff skilled enough at Photoshop to simply remove the cigarette from the mouth. Guess not! And this is what we get instead. It's OK, Europe's getting the same thing.

Fortunately, the next two efforts fare a little better. Next we have Infinite Space for Nintendo DS, a new space-opera RPG from Platinum Games (MadWorld, Bayonetta). It definitely looks intriguing, and if you haven't been following, Sega's also been dubbing the anime shorts (albeit with questionable, barely OK voice acting).

The cover they've done for International audiences is definitely a step down from the Japanese one, but it still doesn't look too bad. It would have looked much better if it wasn't for the characters in the way of the background. The game releases in America and Europe in spring 2010; possibly March if Nintendo's earlier schedule was correct.

Last we have the covers for Resonance of Fate, known as End of Eternity in Japan (which couldn't be used outside of that territory for good reason) for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. This is a Japanese RPG developed by tri-Ace (of the Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile games) and published by Sega instead of Square Enix this time, since the latter felt it was too ambitious to take a gamble on. This is also the first tri-Ace game not published by Enix or Square Enix. It released last week in Japan.

The cover is, again, not quite as good as the Japanese version in terms of atmosphere, but like Infinite Space's, the result isn't too bad. Showing all three characters with guns sure is a good way to sell it to certain people, so I'm sure it will sell fine to the uninitiated. Well, I sure hope so, because after hearing that the game is good, I'd like tri-Ace to be rewarded for their success. The game releases in spring 2010, but some retailers have the game listed as releasing on...March 9th? But no, they wouldn't do that. They can't be that stupid.

Looking at a lineup like this, along with the recently released Bayonetta, makes me glad that Sega is finally out of the dreadful period they were in shortly after the Dreamcast was laid to rest. They're still not on the level they were during the Dreamcast's heyday, but it's still a hell of a lot better than too many Japanese companies are doing these days. They recently posted a profit as well, though it was mostly on the power of Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics. I hope they can keep up that streak of quality with Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

So hey! Project Needlemouse was officially unveiled by Sega during the early hours (and I mean early) of the day. And it's...Sonic the Hedgehog 4? Well, OK.

I think that's pretty neat, actually. If there's a franchise that seriously needs a do-over, it's Sonic. For every good game in the franchise that releases in the series, those being the Sonic Rush titles -- despite the second game trying its damnedest to ruin the formula with a horrifyingly terrible plot and one of the most annoying characters in a video game in Marine -- you have plenty of games that are unfortunately good examples of Sega not knowing what to do with the franchise or its characters. The most egregious examples of those being Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog '06.

For Sonic 4, Sega is apparently going back to the series' roots. But there's a twist: It will be episodic. That can be good or bad depending on how they handle it. There was a leak not too long ago suggesting that each episode would contain a substantial amount of content, perhaps as much as an older Sonic game has. I'm not going to be as nitpicky as some fans I've seen around the 'net (His eyes are green! Why Eggman instead of Robotnik!? His running animation is weird! OMG MY CHILDHOOD IS RUINED!!!), but I think it's OK to have some reserved anticipation for a new Sonic game. We sure have been burned too many times in the past.

The under five seconds in the trailer isn't enough to judge how the final game will turn out, but I'm...curiously optimistic. The game comes out this summer for WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade, and Playstation Network. I hope it's successful -- and, more importantly, good -- so it can have a retail release after all of the episodes are out.

Uh oh, optimism about a Sonic game? That could be dangerous....

Image courtesy of Siliconera.

Wow, what a title, eh? Bursting with creativity!

Fans of the Yakuza games on PS2 were worried for the future of the franchise outside of Japan when they realized that the first two games didn't sell all that well in America and Europe. You could take it as an unfortunate realization that most people outside of Japan really aren't interested in something they really can't relate too, given how the games take place within the country. (Or, if you're really cynical, you could say that it's because people don't have a taste for imagination.) Due to their failure, Sega told fans they had no intention of releasing the third game outside of Japan.

But something happened: Whether it was out of dedication or blind loyalty, Sega decided to go ahead and translate the game after all. At this point, like they did with the second game, they realize that the franchise likely won't go beyond appealing to a small-though-vocal niche. To keep localization costs down, they're leaving it in Japanese with English subtitles instead of dubbing it. A pretty good idea, considering that these games have quite a plethora of voice acting. Even if the game's content appealed to most people, the fact that it's Japanese only sure won't.

It's also probably good idea for Sega to bring this game over while leaving the previous game, Yakuza Kenzan! in Japan (the exclamation mark is part of the title). Kenzan! is only the previous game in terms of release schedule, since the actual game takes place during Edo-period Kyoto, in the early 17th centry. That means it's the kind of game that holds even less appeal with the average gamer, if past precedent means anything. Sure, games like the first Onimusha (but not the sequels) and Samurai Warriors may have been able to buck that trend, but they're unfortunately exceptions. I still would have liked to have seen it, though.

We'll be getting this game on shelves in about a month, and around that time the fourth game will be releasing in Japan. Following the localization periods of the previous games (again, not including Kenzan!), that's right on schedule! That would mean we would be on track to get Yakuza 4 next year. You know, if three sells well enough for Sega. Hopefully people realize that you don't have to play the previous games in order to understand this one. The game releases in America and Europe on March 9th and 12th, respectively. In the meantime, why don't you enjoy the new trailer.

Wait, March 9th? Seriously, Sega? Sure, because there's nothing else coming out that week. I can only shake my head.

Though the Japanese demo was released quite a while ago, the Bayonetta demo released in other parts of the world last week on both the Xbox Live Marketplace and Playstation Network. I've already been through the 360 version about five times, so I figured I'd give the PS3 version a whirl. Ignoring the technical problems for a short minute, the PS3 version's demo is pretty different from the 360 version, and also sports a much bigger file size (1.6GB instead of around 770MB).

The greatest aspect of the PS3 demo is that it actually eases you into the game a little more. The 360 version started with you in a very chaotic environment, during which it was difficult to see where you were supposed to be going and where exactly an enemy was waiting to strike, since you couldn't control the camera. It's a situation that anyone well-versed in the genre can adapt to after a few tries, but I could imagine it frustrating anyone who isn't familiar with the territory; the worst thing you want is to turn someone off from this, especially for a game that seems destined for niche territory. The PS3 demo contains an extended battle with the second boss, and a battle with one of the game's primary antagonists. The thing is, I don't think the PS3 demo lacks the aforementioned section because of those.

And that's because it's undeniably below par from a technical perspective. For the last few months, there have been numerous reports about performance issues with the PS3 version, and everything you've heard thus far is true. The PS3 version generally doesn't look as good, has more screen tearing, and runs at a lower framerate. It's not unplayable by any means, but it's pretty clear that this game was designed from the ground up with 360 in mind. Platinum Games handed the game to Sega for the port job, and it's pretty clear the team that handled it wasn't up to the task. There have been rumors going around saying that the problems will be fixed by the time it releases in America and Europe in early January, but nothing about that is really concrete.

Now, I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from purchasing the PS3 version if they don't own a 360. I liken it to comparing the Gamecube version of Resident Evil 4 to the PS2 version. In their comparisons, the PS2 version was clearly inferior, containing less environmental geometry, lower quality sound, less precise controls, longer loading times, and generally lower graphical quality. However, it was still playable. The only comparison that's moot in comparing the two situations is that RE4's port was logical; the PS2 was weaker than the Gamecube, but that's not the case with Bayonetta. So yeah, Sega has some questions to answer.

But it's the core game that really shines here, and the fact that I've already played the PS3 demo three times is a testament to its inherently addictive qualities. If you like action games, I don't know why you wouldn't be all over this in a month's time. If you don't, here's your chance to find out whether you'll like it or not.

Sega and Tri-Ace's collaborative RPG, End of Eternity (Resonance of Fate outside of Japan), is on the horizon now, though it's thankfully releasing far away from Final Fantasy XIII in Japan. A lot of RPG fans who found themselves burnt by Infinite Undiscovery and Star Ocean: The Last Hope are finding themselves intrigued by the concepts being realized in the game -- though time will tell if all of us are setting ourselves up for disappointment -- but there were a few details revealed that will appeal to fans of the genre as a whole; features that seriously should have been addressed years ago.

Not too long ago, a blog post went up on the game's Japanese webpage detailing how user-friendly the game would be for everyone. Way, way too many HD games suffer from the text being calibrated for HD sets the buyers of some games may not have, the result being some of the smallest, most unreadable fonts SDTV owners will ever see. Some RPGs also tend to suffer from this, which is pretty bad for a genre so reliant on text -- especially you Blue Dragon. EoE thankfully has developers actually being sensible enough to make sure all of the text is perfectly readable on an SD set. That's pretty great, now if only everyone working on HD games could think this way.

There's also another problem that haunts console RPG fans that EoE fixes: The inclusion of a Quick Save option. There's nothing like an RPG that has incredibly long stretches between specific, if not every, save point, the best example of which would be...well, most Tri-Ace games. Good to see they're finally addressing this problem! Seriously, every RPG in the history of everything should have this feature; it's something that doesn't need to be tied exclusively to portables, even if it is most beneficial there.

Though I'm sure some people will raise a fuss about it, I think having the ability to retry battles immediately is a pretty nice feature, as it will save everyone the time from making their way from a save point all the way back to the battle they lost in. It's bound to draw some criticism for being too much of a user friendly idea, but whatever. It's something very similar to what the Wild Arms games did.

Oh! And it'll also be one disc on both PS3 and 360. But it's unknown if they're going to go ahead with their earlier plan of not dubbing everything to keep the Japanese version on both discs, mainly the 360 DVD in this case. As a person who happens to like dubs -- though mainly when they're quality -- that's something I can't get behind. I doesn't make good sense in the grand scheme of things either, since most English-speaking players are likely to play the game in English. I hope they've reconsidered that.

With so much going into this, and for how good the game looks in its latest trailer, it's almost difficult to anticipate it because of Tri-Ace's track record so far this generation. But EoE looks like it could be the exception, coming with ideas too ambitious for Square Enix to touch it. And even if it's bad, I hope the genre and general video game flaws it intends to fix are recognized by a lot of other developers. It hits Japan on January 28th; far enough for FFXIII not to threaten it, but along with too many other games -- one of which is a port of a Tri-Ace title -- also dodging the lightning bullet.

Oh boy, it's the third generation! And it also marks the final time where the Dreamcast was a dominant power in America. It was a sad time for it when the Playstation 2 launched and sold much faster than the Dreamcast seemingly ever would. But that's not to say its software output let up. In fact, some of the best titles released during the fall of 2000 and in early 2001. It was still a great time to be an owner of the console, and it was still well worth the asking price, even if its outlook was bleak.

Capcom vs. SNK

This is the game that fans of both companies had clamored for, and it was pretty much destined to happen given how games from both of them played rather (but not completely) similarly. This game took the best of the Street Fighter characters and pit them against the best from the King of Fighters franchise; the end result was a game that prided itself on having far more depth than any of the previous Vs. titles. It's a shame that it wasn't free of any problems, like an unvaried character roster -- the only non-Street Fighter character on the Capcom side was Morrigan, and vice versa for King of Fighters where Nakoruru was only prominent, which is kind of ridiculous - within a curious tier system based on a character's strength, a lack of refinement in the gameplay, and uneven character balance. Thankfully, there was a sequel.

Quake III: Arena

Since the Dreamcast had online capabilities, it was only a matter of time until the system started getting deathmatch first-person shooters, and Quake III: Arena filled in the blank fantastically. The port itself turned out very good as well, with an online netcode that handled smoothly and a nice frame rate. Needless to say, it was pretty popular with gamers who didn't have access to a then-higher end PC. A shame there weren't many other games in this genre to follow it up.

Seaman

Though its name would (and still does) incite giggling among most people, Seaman was actually a very interesting experiment. It was like the realization of the older Dreamcast ads in that the game's itinerary was an attempt to gauge your thought process and respond to the person accordingly. If you think that's weird, well, you're absolutely correct. The game became a cult hit, but more because of its bizarre approach than the fact that it was an enjoyable experience.

Jet Grind Radio

When pursuing any kind of Dreamcast-related retrospective, you'll almost always hear the name Jet Grind Radio come up. It's for good reason, as it was one of the most innovative, fresh, and enjoyable experiences to be had on the console. The game centered around your exploits tagging tagging Shibuya, a concept that sounds a little dull on the surface. But as you play the game, its imaginative and stylish art style beings to take you in, adding to the addictive nature of its gameplay. Gamers who played it clamor for it again, which is why it's constantly wished for as a digital download on a current gen console.

Skies of Arcadia

Definitely the biggest RPG released on Dreamcast in terms of popularity. Skies of Arcadia is a game that looks at a lot of older Japanese RPGs on the SNES and utilizes its ideas. But it doesn't do so because of a lack of creativity on the developer's part, but to make an experience that's both nostalgic and a charming experience. Also like an older RPG, the random battle encounter rate is unbelievably high, but it's something you can easily disregard because of the superb quality of the overall product. It's been almost ten years since this game released, yet nothing has been able to touch this game in what it does.

Capcom Portorama: 2000 Edition

Capcom had gotten in the habit of supporting the Dreamcast with plenty of great titles, but being the Capcom we all know and love, they also supplied it with plenty of ports. In the Fall of 2000, Capcom released graphically-enhanced ports of Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, and Dino Crisis, all of which were ports of PSOne games. Heck, by the time it released, we had the fourth iteration of Resident Evil 2 in this version (following the PSOne, PC, and Nintendo 64, if you're curious). Good thing the Dreamcast version cleans up a lot of the pixelation induced by the PSOne's hardware capabilities.

(By the way, these are also the next three games from Capcom slated to release on PSOne Classics in America. Well, isn't that interesting.)

Cannon Spike

The Dreamcast was certainly no stranger to arcade ports, but Cannon Spike was pretty different for an arcade game from Capcom. It was an action game with primarily an isometric view, and starred characters from many of Capcom's franchises. Familiar faces include Mega Man, Charlie and Cammy (where the name was derived from, as the Cannon Spike is one of her moves in the games) from the Street Fighter games, and even B.B. Hood from Darkstalkers. Similar to an arcade brawler, it was definitely more fun when played with a partner. It was an interesting novelty for Capcom, though they've yet to make any other games in the franchise.

Grandia II

Another game that helped to fill the RPG void on the Dreamcast., the Grandia franchise once again found its next installment start on a Sega system. What the game featured was a refinement of the semi-realtime battle system found in the first game - which only came to America on PSOne, with an unfortunate translation. Grandia II isn't constantly looked upon like its predecessor, but it was still an incredibly enjoyable RPG with, unlike Skies of Arcadia, some pretty good voice acting. It's still well worth playing today, though you want to make sure you avoid the nightmarish PS2 port.

There was a system that was touted as the one to bring us new, breathtaking experiences that we could've only imagined previously. The wonders of the Emotion Engine were, needless to say, a bit overblown by Sony initially. After owning the system and enjoying it for seven years, I have to say I was never jacked into the Matrix. And yes, I've played Enter the Matrix, which was nothing resembling a worthwhile experience. Quite the opposite, actually! I guess we were all pretty gullible; and none of us knew (yet) that Ken Kutaragi was actually a pretty crazy guy.

But upon looking at all of the information I had in an old issue of Official Playstation Magazine -- dated from around the time the Playstation 2 launched in Japan -- I have to say that it was all pretty intriguing. At the time, most of us weren't entirely familiar with the empty promises that companies continually touted as an eventual truth. And yeah, I'm including myself in that mix, because after absorbing it all I was actually regretting my purchase of a Dreamcast a mere six months ago from that time. Especially when they were using images from Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within to preview the possibilities the PS2 was capable of. Could you imagine playing a video game like that?

(Though, after actually seeing The Spirits Within, that answer would be a "no, not really.")


There was a pretty big lesson to be learned here for everyone entranced with the hype of the moment. We, as gamers, allowed ourselves to be used as guinea pigs for a system that had only been hyped by the display of its mere graphical prowess. That's an insult gamers in-the-know like to hurl about the mindless hoi polloi, the "casual gamer," as they see it; but there were plenty of times where we were guilty of falling for this as well, and this was one of them. So, in a way, Sony was actually teaching us an important lesson, and Sega was the unfortunate recipient of it. Fortunately, we were all ready and waiting to laugh off the touting of 120fps Playstation 3 games or how we would be paying for potential with the system; not to mention the inane food comparisons (though Microsoft is guilty of that one too). Now you know why Kutaragi isn't at the company anymore! Though, honestly, I'm going to miss him.

The Playstation 2, as you're probably aware if you're reading this site, eventually went on to become one of the best selling consoles of all time. It was also undoubtedly the winner of the last generation, being home to some of the best software we would ever see.* But man did its potential seem vapid when it started out, especially with an honestly abysmal software launch (i.e. it was the typical software launch). You know, unless you're a big fan of Orphen: Scion of Sorcery, Evergrace, or Street Fighter EX 3 - the last of which was so bad it put the Street Fighter franchise into a coma for over nine years.** Fortunately, we all learned a lesson to never get caught in the hype, right?

Yeah, sure.

*Or perhaps you favored PC games? Nothing wrong with that, of course.

**Though the fact that Street Fighter III was a big financial failure probably contributed to that too.

Do you believe that it's been ten years since the Dreamcast was bestowed upon America? It's hard to believe given how quickly time tends to pass (of course, your mileage may vary), but it's true. It's been a decade since the system that kicked off the last generation of gaming consoles released, despite how many people tend to forget it was even a part of the last generation. Down the line, though, it will probably be regarded as being more memorable than even the Xbox and Gamecube, and that's because if its story, its short-lived-yet-endearing legacy.

The Dreamcast marked the beginning of a changed Sega; a Sega that wanted to put the crippling mistakes of the past behind them and start anew. The truth is that the company hadn't been all that faithful to its fans, especially outside of Japan. By releasing add-ons like the Sega CD and 32X, which really didn't have the software support to keep it afloat, Sega made a strategic error in assuming how much the faithful consumer would by. There was also the case of launching the Sega Saturn a little too early (with a surprise launch, no less), and denying the release of some of the best games on the system overseas because they weren't pushing the power of the system. Not to mention that the Saturn was a pain for developers to program for.

Given how they intended to do everything right (and mostly did) with the Dreamcast, it's a shame that its time on the market was regrettably short. But during that time, it gave gamers a plethora of excellent software. The Dreamcast had one of the best (perhaps, the best) first-year software lineups of any console in gaming history, with developers, including Sega themselves, releasing plenty of games that offered either what gamers wanted or something completely off-the-wall. A proper 3D Sonic and a bunch of great ports of arcade fighters and shooters are what piqued the interest of dedicated gamers, but every now and then the system would offer something like Space Channel 5 and Jet Grind Radio to introduce us to genres we didn't even know we liked.

Suffice it to say, it's no exaggeration that the Dreamcast made its owners glad to be gamers. It also represented some of Sega's greatest days as both a developer and publisher. Few companies had come out with excellent and appealingly innovative software simultaneously, making sure that the system catered to whichever genres people were interested in. It was also a system that was easy on the eyes, and had a bunch of nifty accessories, however useless some of them were as far as practicality was concerned.

Considering the promise it held, fans and gamers in general didn't hesitate to lineup at midnight on this day for the console. But in the Dreamcast's case, things were a little different: there were plenty of games to choose from, and there was likely something you may have liked among its extensive launch lineup. And everything was perfect for it as well. Retailers had plenty of time to properly prepare for it, the opposite of having the console shoved on to them like the Saturn. Its architecture was less esoteric, enabling developers to take advantage of its hardware without ripping hair from the top of their heads. And the price was also perfect and competitive at $199, precisely half the price the Saturn cost at its launch.

It also had the best representation of online play for a console during its release, utilizing an internal interface powered by Microsoft's Windows CE. It's primitive compared to how far we've come with internet play these days - there was only so much you could do with a 56K modem -- but something the Dreamcast is significant for is that the concept began its evolution here. Games like the Phantasy Star Online titles and Capcom's Matching Service titles made it so gamers could start interacting with others without even leaving the house. The system itself had more online-capable games than the Gamecube.


By this time, Sega had thankfully dropped the inane policy of not allowing too many 2D-intensive titles in order to show of a system's prowess. The Saturn may have been complicated architecture that could only push polygons so far, but the Dreamcast was incredibly capable as a graphics powerhouse. Quite a few of the launch titles even showed this off, with Sonic Adventure and especially Soul Calibur as the highlights for how good games could look. You could refer to Soul Calibur for Dreamcast as a port, but it was so much more than that. The arcade game ran on PSX-based hardware, so Namco decided to do a little extra for the Dreamcast iteration, giving it more detailed character models and fully-polygonal backgrounds. You know they did a good job when the game still looks pretty good today. You could also make a lot of games look even better than they appeared on your television, as the Dreamcast was one of the only systems that had an official way to hook it up to your VGA monitor; something that wouldn't be done again until the Xbox 360.


It's commitment like Namco's that showed how developers knew that the Dreamcast was the real deal. While development studios like Squaresoft and Electronic Arts refused to support the system, other developers were committed enough to it that it made up for it in return. The RPG genre always had a slow start for every new console, and while the Dreamcast was no exception, there were a few games to help fill the void. For the lack of Electronic Arts, Sega started its 2K titles to perfectly fill that void. Capcom was also incredibly committed to the console, supplying it with plenty of ports of excellent arcade games.

You can tell how much of an impact the Dreamcast had on gaming as a whole thanks to the plethora of retrospectives on the internet today. If you had a Dreamcast, or ever had an interest in it, then I highly recommend them. Among them, Gamasutra and 1up definitely have the best of them, though there are undoubtedly plenty of others that are also quality retrospectives.

And though so many were pessimistic enough to think they would, Sega is acknowledging the fact that the Dreamcast released a decade ago. Granted, they're not doing that much to make it a memorable day, but everything counts regardless of how miniature. That image above acknowledging the 10th Anniversary is taken from their official Twitter, and they confirmed that they have a new HD 2D Sonic game in the works. At least it's better than their previous acknowledgment: the release of Sonic & Knuckles on Xbox Live Arcade today. Yeah, a Genesis game. By the way, would you believe there are still games releasing for it?

It's times like this where I wish I still had my Dreamcast around so I could boot it up and really bask in nostalgia. Quite a few gamers around the country are doing exactly that, and if you're reading this now, then I welcome you to do the same.

I didn't check out this weeks Wii and DSi channel offerings for the first time in a while this week. You could theoretically conclude that the reason for that was lack of interest given that I don't own either console, but no, I'm always interested in what's happening on the other side, so to speak. I didn't check it until earlier today to see the Virtual Console offering. Figuring that this week's game would be a follow up to last week's Super Star Wars (that would be Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, for the three of you not in-the-know), I was shocked to see that it wasn't. This week's game is: The Revenge of Shinobi.

Though I wasn't shocked to see that it was the only new game on the VC. God forbid they put more than one game on the service at a time! Though I suppose we should be glad it's still being updated at all these days. Wouldn't want a repeat of late-July.

Anyway, I'm pretty surprised to see that The Revenge of Shinobi was re-released in some form. Namely, I was wondering what deal or alteration Sega had to make to legally distribute this game again. In case you didn't know, it's been left off the last two Sega Genesis collections because of its inclusion of a Spider-Man-esque character (who Sega had the rights to at its time of creation). I was going to guess they paid for the rights to merely distribute this game, and didn't go through with a complete acquiring. But they actually went with simply replacing the Spider-Man palette with a pinkish character that behaves like him. In the words of the great Hermes Conrad: "That only raises further questions!"

So, uh, if all they had to do was a simple palette swap, why was it left off the last two collections? It's not like they didn't have the room for it, especially on the Ultimate Genesis Collection released earlier this year. It's a shame, too, because it's a very good game, fitting right between Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi and Shinobi III in terms of quality and chronology.

It was also one of the six games that you could vote for to decide on which should get an Xbox Live Arcade release last Friday. Though that's since been tossed out thanks to Sega not realizing they don't have the rights to Earthworm Jim anymore -- which was announced by Gameloft and Interplay yesterday for a digital release, don't you know. With the new poll, hopefully Revenge of Shinobi wins it, though I wouldn't be surprised if every game hit XBLA eventually. Though the emulation will undoubtedly be better on the Virtual Console.

In case you didn't know, the Sega Genesis released in North America on this very day 20 years ago. This is the kind of event that really dates you, the kind where gamers all around the internet who remember Sega's halcyon years say "damn, 20 years? I'm old." That's kind of how I felt at first, but it isn't until you sit down and think about it that it all feels natural, like it really was 20 years ago when you enjoyed most of its best games in their heyday. A time when you could only choose one console because your parents thought you were crazy for wanting two, and when you engaged in battle on the playground and either defended its reputation against diatribes from the other guys who felt the Super Nintendo was the better package.

People tend to remember the 16-bit era so fondly because it was a time of innocence, so to speak. Developers were free to experiment on and with multiple genres without much consequence thanks to low development costs. It was when gaming was primarily a nerd's hobby, both to its benefit -- lower budget games appealing to people who really didn't need a lot of pizazz to go with everything -- and detriment -- because god forbid you run into someone that wasn't engrossed in the hobby, especially at school. But even with its setbacks, it was a time when we were all forced to experiment with every title we received since, unlike today, we didn't have the benefit of going to the internet to look for tips to everything at a whim.

Developers and publishers sure kept us busy with a steady stream of good games to enjoy in our free time, too. The Sonic the Hedgehog games were all pretty good for people of all ages to enjoy (excluding a few of them), there were also more niche favorites like the Phantasy Star games, the Shining Force series (including Shining in the Darkness), Ristar, the Vectorman games, the Shinobi series, Gunstar Heroes (and probably every other Treasure-developed game), and plenty more. Most of us couldn't possibly mow enough lawns to afford all of that! Yeah, feel free to envy anyone who had both a Super NES and Genesis and could afford most of the games they wanted on it.

But you shouldn't! That's because there are plenty of ways to play all of the old games you missed back then. Sega has been preserving the legacy Genesis established by releasing compilations that include most of their best published titles. Sure, some of them don't include all of the best titles (and have some rather dubious inclusions), but they preserve the third best experience of them, especially if you're playing some for the first time. The second best is buying them from the Wii Virtual Console because of typically better emulation, with the best being, well, hooking the Genesis back up to the television. Though you may want to use an older TV for the last one there. This is all because you can envelop yourself in a sense of faux-nostalgia when you're playing the games from the computer via emulation (or another method), because you likely didn't play them that way when you were younger.

Sega of America also apparently didn't forget that this day was coming; they have a poll on their website to vote for what you think the next Xbox Live Arcade Genesis title should be. The choices are....well, they're interesting. Personally I'd like Toejam & Earl to win it, but I'd also take Wonder Boy in Monster World or Revenge of Shinobi (which I assume they've settled the rights with, since Spider-Man is in it). Unfortunately, Earthworm Jim is winning, which breaks my heart. Not to say that Earthworm Jim is a bad game, but I'd like to see the superior Saturn version of the game rather than the merely OK Genesis version made available. Bummer.

Man, there are a lot of great anniversaries this year, and they're all in rather close proximity to each other. Of all of them, this one is by far the biggest in gaming because of its impact on the industry back then as a whole, though it's a close call with a lot of other consoles having their birthday between this month and next month. It's a pretty great time to be in if you're a fan of nostalgia; of course, it would be ideal if the manufacturers realize this every time as well. Yeah, I'm talking about you, Nintendo.